Dobinsons suspension alignment and correction items

We get a lot of calls from customers asking when they should buy a castor kit, or if they need castor plates, and what they need to do to their sway bars, realigning the front or rear axle, what size coil spacer (or trim packer) to use, and all sorts of suspension related questions that are separate from coils/leaf springs and shocks. I've seen a lot of people over the years lift their vehicles in all sorts of ways, but some of the other components are being strained and not corrected during the lifting process. I can also tell based on how many coils and shocks we sell, yet the quantities sold of these parts below aren't proportional all the time.

I want to point out all of the common Toyota suspension components that we make related to all that, and hopefully bring some friendly education to anyone that needs it. Feel free to add any comments or suggestions, as well as questions about these parts. I'll start with 70 and 80 series parts, then I'll add anything else I can find as I get to it.

Castor Bushings
Lifting over 2"? The angle that the front control arms will hold the front axle in place will not be the same any more (castor angle). Most of you know about this already.
We offer rubber bushings, set to give 2.5 degrees of castor correction. We have these for 70, 80, 105 series, with the 70 series being the rarest and also most expensive to correct.
And also adjustable poly bushings, to give 0, 2.5 or 3.5 degrees of adjustment, based on the removable steel sleeve insert (it has 4 clockable positions).
We also have fixed OE replacement rubber bushings for all ends of front and rear control arms, panhard rods for those that are interested.

Castor Plates
Lifting over 4"? Leave the stock bushings alone and add these to the axle end to give 5 degrees of castor angle back into your vehicle and make it driveable. They're zinc plated (gold). Oh, and it's not recommended to combine these castor plates with castor bushings. Warning: If you add too much castor to the vehicle, the coil springs won't be centered and could bow and you may experience steering parts hitting the front leading arms. If in doubt, have an alignment shop measure how much castor you need before purchasing either bushings or castor plates.

Coil Spacers
Old sagging coils, leaning problems, or not happy with the final lift height of your new suspension? First you should make sure everything was installed properly and on the correct side. Then if you still need a boost, we offer 5, 10, 20, and 30mm coil spacers for 80/105 series front ends and 10, 15, 30mm coil spacers for the rear end. They're polyurethane and will last a very long time, and are pretty straight forward to install.

Rear brake adjuster
The rear brake system on the 80 series is easily affected negatively when lifting over 2". Many adjust it properly, but some just leave it alone. Our brake adjuster is that shiny gold vertical bit on top of the diff. It sets brake bias back to where it's supposed to be, based on the amount of lift (comes with instructions on setting it right).

Adjustable Panhard Rods
Available for some vehicles front and rear (80/105 series) and rears of FJ Cruiser and 4Runner (although not needed very often for these). The 80 series suspension design pushes the axle assembly to one side of the vehicle, as the original fixed length panhard rod is limiting it from sitting straight. Our adjustable panhard rod can fix that and set your front and rear axles back into center. They're pretty easy to adjust, but one end must be taken off to set the length (not on-car adjustable).
(I'll update the photo once I get a new one. They have been gold zinc coated for years, but we have just added black powder coat over that layer so they look all black now. 2 layers of corrosion protection)

Front Swaybar Extensions
For the front of 70 and 80 series cruisers, these will lower the rear end of the sway bar so that the sway bar can sit more level without putting pressure against the bushings, and also keeping everything working properly. Gold zinc plated once again, super easy to install, and definitely should be installed for anything over 2" to 6" of lift.

Rear Swaybar Extensions
Some 80 series used a swaybar system that attached to the side of the frame, while most that I've seen here in the states use brackets that are attached to the bottom of the frame. We offer both styles. I'll update pics once I get the side-mounted ones in. Recommended for 3-6" of lift.

are you gonna also cover 70 series? Just installed new suspension for my 85 HJ-75 and (50mm) and my castor (tilt of the axle) seems out of wak. As best I can tell it is at about +4 or +5 when it should be at +1 with a little fudge factor. Tried some shims (free don't know what degree) but that did not move the castor. And it drives like something is bound up. Will try to get a +5 shim today and see what that does.
Thanks.

are you gonna also cover 70 series? Just installed new suspension for my 85 HJ-75 and (50mm) and my castor (tilt of the axle) seems out of wak. As best I can tell it is at about +4 or +5 when it should be at +1 with a little fudge factor. Tried some shims (free don't know what degree) but that did not move the castor. And it drives like something is bound up. Will try to get a +5 shim today and see what that does.
Thanks.

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Not anything separate, sorry. Our leaf springs have a degree built into them, but they're just 45-50mm of lift height. Maybe you have more lift than that?